1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tape cassette, and more particularly, but not exclusively, relates to a tape cassette for a magnetic video tape recording and/or reproducing apparatus (VTR).
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional tape cassette for a VTR is, as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,172, provided with a pair of brake levers which engage with respective tape reels to prevent the latter from rotation when the tape cassette is not in use. The brake levers are arranged beside tape guide members which are positioned on respective sides of a front opening of the tape cassette, and as the magnetic tape is withdrawn from the front opening, the brake levers are released. This conventional tape cassette requires many parts and hence it is rather troublesome to assemble particularly in mass-production by automatic machinery. It has therefore recently been proposed to form each brake lever and an associated tape guide member as a unitary body. This unitary body is pivotally mounted in the tape cassette and is urged to rotate to bring the brake lever into engagement with teeth on a flange of the associated reel by a butterfly-type torsion spring, that is to say, by a spring having two tangentially extending arms which engage respectively with a surface of the unitary body and of a pin fixed to the cassette casing. Such springs are, however, very troublesome in mass-production techniques because when placed in bulk in a feed hopper they become entangled with one another and hence are difficult to separate and to feed to the point where they are assembled into the tape cassette.